


Cuddling the Night Away

by elletromil



Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: Comfort/Angst, Established Relationship, Gen, Jealousy, Self-Doubt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-23
Updated: 2015-09-23
Packaged: 2018-04-23 00:59:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4857161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elletromil/pseuds/elletromil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Saying James was confident was like saying snow was cold, rain was wet, the sun hot and bullets wound a bitch to deal with. It was the kind of obvious statement that made your interlocutor wonder why you would lose time stating such an evidence.</p>
<p>Which meant James had been utterly unprepared to deal with the doubts suddenly plaguing him a few months after he started going steady with Richard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cuddling the Night Away

**Author's Note:**

> The story comes from a prompt on tumblr:
> 
> "Bby, Percilot prompt, James is a little shit who makes Percival groan in exasperation, and he ends up wondering why Percival is with him at all, and Percival comforts him, tells him he loves him and cuddles ensue?"
> 
> I had great fun with this prompt even if, while it's not the first time I've writing Percilot, most of the time they're just implied or in the background, and this is definitely my longest to date. Hopefully my version of their dynamic is going to come off okay :)
> 
> Also, my personal headcanon for Percival's real name is Richard, so that's what I've called him in this fic.
> 
> Fair warning, this has not been beta'd so any mistakes you see are my own, sorry.

James had always possessed the confidence of a popular man with an extensive education born in a rich family. Many would even call him cocky, but his easy-going personality more than made up for it.

Still saying James was confident was like saying snow was cold, rain was wet, the sun hot and bullet wounds a bitch to deal with. It was the kind of obvious statement that made your interlocutor wonder why you would lose time stating such an evidence.

Which meant James had been utterly unprepared to deal with the doubts suddenly plaguing him a few months after he started going steady with Richard.

Not that anyone would believe or understand why he was currently having doubts. James himself didn’t really understood.

At first, it had been easy ignoring all the other Knights muttering how they simply did not see how Richard could even stand being with him. Especially when Richard himself would roll his eyes in exasperation, because it wasn’t like they had anything to base their judgement on. None of them knew him that much, except for Kay, Bors and Galahad, the three agents with whom he was most often paired with, and Merlin because the man was a noisy bugger who knew everything about everyone.

It stung a bit more when, after a month of being officially together, Kay and Bors mentioned offhandedly that even if they could not deny they seemed to have a great relationship, they were still surprised it had lasted that long.

It helped that Galahad’s only comment, after saying with a pointed look directed at the two other Knights seating in the pub with them that it was unbecoming of a gentleman to talk of such private matters without being invited to do so, was that it was a nice change to see Percival smile so much. He even added, as if he hadn’t implied it strongly enough, that the reason behind their previously so forlorn friend’s lighter moods was obviously James.

It had been stuffy as hell, but James had come to know Galahad’s awesomeness in the field was only proportional to his attempts at properness in social gatherings. And to be frank, it had been exactly what he had needed to hear, so he had expressed his thanks by paying for his next pint.

(As for Merlin, the only thing he had said was that he hoped Lancelot would not corrupt one of the few level headed Knight.

James had refrained from replying that surely if Merlin thought _he_ was the one that would do the corrupting, the handler definitely had no idea what Richard was getting up to in the bedroom.)

~

The gala they had had to attend, along with several other Knights because it so happened that many persons of interest in various of their on-going missions had RSVPed, had left James feeling a bit uneasy.

Not that anything noteworthy had happened, but having to look at Percival dancing with women after women and a couple of bolder men had left him cringing his teeth. He knew it had been mostly due to some healthy jealousy for the lucky dancers mixed with a slight pinch of envy at being unable to dance with his lover himself due to the nature of their assignments and respective cover, but it was still unsettling.

Lancelot was a professional; he should easily rise above petty feelings during a mission.

(As for after the mission… Let’s just say James and Richard had spent a few hours dancing a dance of their own when they had gotten back to James’ flat.)

~

Then, they had met James great-grandaunt at some restaurant completely by chance.

He usually loved Graunty Rosemary to the last of her wrinkle but, while yes the meal in her company had been pleasant if not what either man had planned for at first, her parting comment had left him reeling.

“Do try to keep this one James. God only knows what he is doing with you.”

Richard had come back from settling their bill at that exact same time, preventing him from causing a scene and being disinherited for calling Graunty Rosemary some choice words.

(James did not mentioned it to Richard partly because he had not wanted to spoil his evening and because he had obviously fallen under the charm of the old hag. And he kind of wanted to keep it that way, for Richard and his family to get along.)

~

After that, they had met one of Richard’s twice removed cousin or something similar while they had been grocery shopping.

The woman, Amanda _but please call me Mandy_ , had been very grating and a true test of James’ very thin patience.

He usually enjoyed partaking in some lighthearted flirting and had been infinitely happy to have find a partner who didn’t seemed to mind it overly when James pulled on the charm on others.

It probably helped that Richard knew the difference between James flirting for fun and James flirting with the intent of getting into someone’s pants.

Unfortunately, it seemed that _Mandy_ did not know the difference. Not that James had really tried flirting with her, but his polite smile was so very close to his charming one that he could understand why she had made the mistake.

Still, he would have thought that after staying unresponsive to her poor attempts at lines, after not really trying to hide his wincing at her cringe-worthy giggles and after practically plastering himself to Richard, she would have bought a clue.

The clue stayed unbought.

(He tried convincing himself that what had truly bothered him wasn’t that not once Richard displayed any jealousy or made any possessive gesture to stake his claim on him.

Since James never had any reason to do so before, it came as no surprise that he was very rubbish at lying to himself.)

~

Of course, none of this should have been enough to make him start second-guessing their relationship, even when all incidents were combined together.

But add to that the way Richard would often shake his head in mock exasperation before saying a variant of ’What shall I do with you?’ and anyone would have had doubts, with or without James’ confidence.

(Because he couldn’t help but wonder when his lover would start saying it in just plain exasperation, when the teasing tone would become tinged with resentment, when the answer to his question would no longer be to kiss James until they were both breathless.)

*

James thought he had been doing a good job keeping his doubts hidden from Richard, what with him being a spy and all. It lasted for a few weeks, until he was proven wrong when his lover finally cornered him in the living room one afternoon.

“Alright, enough is enough. What’s been eating you?”

James was tempted to deny anything was wrong, even if Richard’s serious expression made it clear it would not be easy. But in the end, he simply could not do it. What was the point in pretending everything was just fine, if nothing was?

“Do you…. Do you think I’m good for you?” He winced at how shaky his voice sounded even to his own ears.

“Is that a break-up speech?” His lover sounded hurt and unbelieving and James had simply no idea why he would think so.

“What!? No, why would you- Do you want to…?” Maybe that had been what Richard had been waiting for. Maybe he knew James was no good for him in the long run, but he had not want to be the one to do the dirty work.

“My God James,” it was somewhat reassuring that Richard seemed so horrified at the idea, “of course not! I just wanted to know what kind of discussion I was getting into. Why the hell would I want to break up?”

“I don’t know, I just… I just feel like I’m not really what you need…” It was hard putting into words the doubts that had been plaguing him lately, why off-handed and inconsequential comments had troubled him so much.

“So you doubt that I love you?” Richard didn’t look angry, but rather more like he felt guilty and now James felt like a right arse.

“What- No, that’s not what I’m saying!”

For a long time, he thought the self-depreciating snort would be the only answer to his exclamation, until Richard took a few steps closer and put on a hand on his shoulder, not without some hesitation.

“James, you may not mean it like this, but think a bit. How else am I supposed to take it?”

Of course, now that he was looking at his words from Richard point of view, he could understand why they would have been misconstrued. He put his hand on top of Richard’s, trying and tried once more to put his thoughts into something resembling order.

“It’s just that, it’s like everyone doesn’t know what you are doing with me and I can’t help but feeling maybe you deserve better!”

“Deserve better-?’ Richard spluttered, looking offended by the mere idea. “Alright, I don’t care what you tell me, I’ve definitely not been clear enough with you and I’m sorry James.”

“No, you’ve done nothing wrong!” If it didn’t mean leaving Richard standing alone, James would have gone and bash his head on a wall. He was making a right mess of it all and everything he said came out wrong. “I guess I’m just not use to my partners not being jealous…”

“Not jealous?” He scoffed, half amused, half unbelieving. “James of course I am! I just trust you and you’ve never giving me any reason to think you wouldn’t come back with me at the end of the night.”

“What about Mandy?” At the mention of his cousin’s name, Richard expression clouded over and James cursed himself for not being able to keep his mouth shut.

“What do you mean, ’what about Mandy’?” His eyes narrowed into suspicious slits and his lips were pressed into a weird twist James had never seen before.

“Well, while it’s great that you trust me and all, you could have said something to her at least.” He knew he sounded whiny, but he couldn’t help himself. It still stung a bit that Richard had had next to no reaction to her cousin’s shameless flirting.

“Oh I would have, trust me.” His voice was close to a snarl and James finally identified his moue for one of distaste, however it was clear it wasn’t directed at him. So his lover _had_ been jealous after all. “But since you couldn’t have been closer to me except if you had been inside my pants and I let you, I thought I needn’t say anything… She was quite shocked actually. You’re my first lover she hasn’t been able to tempt away from me.” He finally let go of James’ shoulder after his admission, but the barely concealed sadness he could see in Richard’s eyes made James grab his hand, unwilling to break physical contact.

“You’re kidding me.” He still muttered in disbelief because why would anyone look elsewhere when they had Richard fucking Morton as their lover was beyond him. Which he was quick to tell him. “Why would anyone go for Giggly Mandy when they got you?!”

“Giggl- You know what? Nevermind, I don’t want to know,” he had a reproving frown on his face that James would have taken more seriously if not for the tiny amused smile tugging at his lips. “But no, I’m not kidding you. There’s a reason Galahad used to tell me I had horrible taste in men.”

James nearly slumped in defeat because the other agent was obviously not the ally he thought he was if he said things like this, but when he thought about it, he could not think of a single instance he had heard the older man say this to his lover.

“Galahad never told you you had horrible taste. Not even in teasing.” Because the thing with Harry Hart was, he might pretend he was all proper and shit, but after a couple of drinks it turned to him being a right proper shit to the people he liked. Except if you were Merlin, because then, no drinks were necessary beforehand.

“I said ’used to’, not that he was still saying it.” Richard was giving him a pointed look, as if he was waiting for him to make an obvious connection, but he truly had no clue what he wa-

“Oh.” Surely he didn’t mean that Harry had stopped when they had started dating? ”Really?”

“Yes really. God, you’re lucky to be pretty, because right now you’re pretty dense.” The insult was smoothed over by a tender kiss, not that James would have protested at the time. He did feel a bit like an idiot.

It wasn’t long for the kiss to turn deeper, but without any true passion behind it. It was more like a slow exploration of the other, like being reacquainted after a long separation even though they had last kissed mere hours ago. Richard led them to the sofa, where he let himself fall on his back, dragging James on top of him between his legs.

A small eternity later, when Richard had moved from his lips to press small butterfly kisses along the line of his jaws, James suddenly remembered that however fun their current activities were, they didn’t really have the time for it.

He pushed away from the other man but, even if Richard let him do as he wanted, it was with some reluctance judging by his pout.

“It’s not that I don’t like where this is going, but shouldn’t we be preparing for that practice wedding dinner?” One of Richard’s aunt was getting married and even though he had warned her they might have sudden business they couldn’t get out of, he had called her earlier in the morning to tell her they would be able to at least attend tonight’s dinner.

“We should… But we won’t,” he surged up to reclaim his lips, but James stayed carefully out of reach.

“Richard, I kind of don’t want to be banned from your family gatherings just because you wanted a shag.” He tried his best to look stern, but it was a hard thing to do faced with Richard’s puppy eyed look. Cherubs would seem evil compared to him right now.

“I don’t want a shag.” James raised an eyebrow dubiously. “I’m serious! A good snog yes, but I mostly want to cuddle. We never really have the occasion to do so. Anyway, we’ve only been invited to the practice dinner because Aunt Clara wanted a chance to meet my first lover who resists Mandy’s ’wiles’.” The eyebrow was still raised. “It’s true! Supposedly Mandy cannot stop talking about how dreamy you are and how lucky I am, but Aunt Clara says she is kinda green when she talks about her meeting us.”

“Shouldn’t it be a reason more to go? To show her you’re still the lucky one?”

“Or we could wait for the actual wedding and heavily implied that we prefered to spend tonight shagging instead. Aunt Clara would forgive us if we make Mandy stomp away.”

“You have a fucked up family Richard, you really do. Anyway you said you only want a cuddle.” Not that James was really adverse to shagging, but he had to admit cuddling the night away did not sound bad either.

“Mandy doesn’t have to know we didn’t,” he smiled mischievously, leaving James with no other choice but to kiss him silly, before settling down more comfortably on top of him.

Long minutes passed in silence, their hands roaming over the planes of their bodies without trying to arouse, lips finding naked skin to linger on at random interval.

In fact, the silence was broken only once, James raising himself a bit on his elbow so he could look Richard directly in the eyes.

“I love you too.”

James decided right then and there, that the brilliant loving smile he got for his declaration was always going to be his favourite of Richard's.


End file.
